Should misogyny be made a hate crime in Lincolnshire?

Georgia Burrows

Lincolnshire Police have confirmed that they are in talks with Nottinghamshire Police following a crack down over the county border which saw misogynistic comments classified as a hate crime.

Earlier this year Nottinghamshire Police, in partnership with Nottingham Women’s Centre, became the first force in the country to recognise misogyny as a hate crime.

The force said misogyny can be defined as ‘incidents against women that are motivated by an attitude of a man towards a woman, and includes behaviour targeted towards a woman by men simply because they are a woman’.

The additional category applied to a range of incidents reported to the police, from street harassment through to unwanted physical approaches.

A spokesman from Lincolnshire Police said that there is ‘no official position on this matter’ at the moment but added ‘they are in discussion with Nottingham’.

Since recognising misogyny as hate crime, Nottinghamshire Police have recorded 21 misogynistic hate incidents and crimes.

A spokesman from Nottingham Police said: “We have had interest from a number of other forces and commissioners across the country.”